1. Use a cage to "crate train" your puppy. This substitute for a den, allows
your puppy to go all night without accidents. It is hard to believe an 8-week old
puppy can go all night without messing until you see it yourself. When you
leave the house, the crate keeps your home and its contents safe from your
puppy's teeth. With this simple technique you can eliminate 75% of the
frustration and damage encountered raising a puppy.
2. Feed regular meals to help encourage regular bowel habits. Two or three
meals a day is all your puppy needs. Ideally, put food down for the meal and
when your puppy walks away from it, pick up what is left and don't give any
more food until the next meal. This teaches the pup to eat at once and this
allows you to use his appetite as a good guide to health.
3. Dogs are pack animals, and view themselves and those around them (dogs
and people) as members of the pack. The most well behaved pets are not
those that think they are leaders of the pack. Teach your pet that you are the
dominant "dog" by doing roll-over exercises when they are small. This gives
your puppy a heightened sense of security to know you are dominant and
therefore watching out for things.
4. Don't use discipline to train your puppy; rather, praise good behavior
whenever possible. In most cases, verbal or physical punishment is
misunderstood, misused, and fails to encourage the desired behavior. As much
as possible praise good behavior and ignore the bad stuff. Behaviors that are
repeatedly disciplined are often continued. Often, bad behavior will stop if you
ignore it long enough. Puppies will repeat behaviors that get a response, so
respond as much as possible to the good things.
5. Use distraction techniques to discourage bad behavior without reinforcing it.
In order to do this you will need a noise maker, such as a whistle, tin can with
rocks, key chain, long fingernails etc. Let's say we are sitting in the living room
watching a show and the puppy notices that no one is paying any attention
to him/her. Well, after a while he/she begins to chew on the recliner. Yelling at him/her or
disciplining him/her will only cause her to associate chewing with getting your
attention away from the TV (this is bad), but making a funny noise will cause
her to look away from her chewing. Repeating this a few times will eventually
cause her to forget that she was chewing. Don't talk to your puppy during this,
allow the noise you are making to distract her from chewing. Once the chewing
has stopped, a more suitable object may be supplied. This helps stop a bad
behavior and prevents a pup from using bad behavior to get your attention.
6. TEACH YOUR PUPPY TO COME! I had to put this one in big letters
because it is the easiest, most fun, and most overlooked thing we should do for
our dogs. From the first day you get your puppy you should have treats in
your pocket at all times. These treats need be no fancier than pieces of dry
food, or whatever else you choose like Milkbones, etc. Whenever you are
outside with your pup and your pup comes up to you, give that pup a treat. If
you continue to do this, your puppy will have a natural tendency to hang
around you. After a while, when you see your pup heading toward you, say
come once and get the treats ready. Call your puppy when you know he is
already interested in coming, then just give a treat to reward his coming.
7. Provide adequate supervision for your puppy. All too often people bemoan
the damage that their pet has done. If a pet is crate trained, then the only time
it can cause destruction is when the owner is home. This is when inadequate
supervision is a problem. Generally a supervised dog does not do any damage.
What you need is a damage proof room, but what you hopefully have is a
fenced yard. If you have a fenced yard and you cannot watch your pet, then
weather permitting, a dog is least likely to do serious damage outside. Don't be
afraid to leave your pet outside if he seems content. A puppy that is free in the
house must be watched at all times if you want to avoid damage. Just think,
you wouldn't leave a toddler running free without expecting big trouble, and
you can't expect any better from your puppy.
8. House train your puppy without putting down newspaper. Puppies have to
go to the bathroom quite frequently, and the best training is to take them
outside as often as possible. When there is an accident, the presence of
newspaper is not helpful in the training process, and may actually slow things
down. Generally a puppy will have to void after every nap, following eating,
soon after playing hard, and just about any other time as well. The best rule
here is when in doubt, take them out. It is often a good idea to encourage your
pet to go when you say a command such as "better go now." If you want your
pup to go to just one spot in the yard, you will need to take him to that location
until he gets
